The irony almost made me laugh.
I picked up the first page.
I pretended to struggle with the small print.
Then I noticed something.
The notary section was already stamped.
Already dated.
The date was from one week before Walter’s funeral.
A week when I had spent almost every hour beside my dying husband.
I had certainly never appeared before any notary.
Denise tapped another page.
“I also brought a little financial summary so we know what we’re dealing with.”
I kept my expression calm.
“Very helpful.”
Then her phone rang.
She stepped into the hallway.
The folder remained open on the kitchen table.
I took out my phone.
My granddaughter had taught me how to use the camera.
I photographed every page.
The power of attorney.
The suspicious notary stamp.
Then I reached the last document.
A brokerage statement.
My account number was printed at the top.
Balance:
$482,316.
I had never told Denise that number.
Then I remembered Roman’s phone call.
“I’ll drop Mom’s statements off.”
My own son had been giving her information.
I took more photographs.
Then I returned the papers exactly as I had found them.
Denise came back.
“I’ll return tomorrow. We really should get this signed quickly.”
I smiled.
“Of course.”
That afternoon, Roman came to see me.
He barely took off his coat.
“Aunt Denise called. She’s worried about you.”
“Are you?”
“Mom, you’re ninety. You shouldn’t be handling all this by yourself.”
“And you’ve been giving Denise my bank statements?”
His face changed.
“Only so she could help.”
“You gave her my brokerage information?”
“I didn’t think it was a big deal.”
I studied my son carefully.
Then I realized something.
Roman wasn’t part of the scheme.
He had been careless.
Naive.
But he genuinely believed Denise was trying to help me.
That night, I looked through the photographs again.
The forged-looking notary date.
The power of attorney.
The brokerage balance.
Walter’s warning echoed in my head.
If Denise makes her move, go back to Bennett.
She had made her move.
The next morning, I returned to the lawyer’s office.
Bennett was expecting me.
Without asking many questions, he opened his desk drawer and removed a second envelope.
Inside was a recorded living trust.
I read the first page.
Then the second.
I was named the sole trustee.
I was also the sole beneficiary.
The trust had been created and funded months before Walter became ill.
